Jazz

642 Pages·2009·25.44 MB·english

by  Scott DeVeaux

W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. www.NortonEbooks.com
JAZZ
Scott Deveaux and Gary Giddins
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JAZZ
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“You got to be in the sun to feel the sun.
It’s that way with music, too.”
—Sidney Bechet
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JAZZ
Scott DeVeaux
University of Virginia
Gary Giddins
The Graduate Center, City University of New York
B
W. W. NORTON & COMPANY
NEW YORK ■ LONDON
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W. W. Norton & Company has been independent since its founding in 1923, when William Warder
Norton and Margaret D. Herter Norton fi rst began publishing lectures delivered at the People’s Insti-
tute, the adult education division of New York City’s Cooper Union. Th e Nortons soon expanded their
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mid-century, the two major pillars of Norton’s publishing program—trade books and college texts—were
fi rmly established. In the 1950s, the Norton family transferred control of the company to its employees,
and today—with a staff of 400 and a comparable number of trade, college, and professional titles pub-
lished each year—W. W. Norton & Company stands as the largest and oldest publishing house owned
wholly by its employees.
Copyright © 2009 by Scott DeVeaux and Gary Giddins
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First Edition
Editor: Maribeth Payne
Developmental editor: Susan Gaustad
Managing editor: Marian Johnson
Electronic media editor: Steve Hoge
Associate editor: Allison Courtney Fitch
Editorial assistant: Imogen Leigh Howes
Senior production manager: Jane Searle
Director of photography: Trish Marx
Photo researcher: Donna Ranieri
Design director: Rubina Yeh
Design and layout: Lissi Sigillo
Proofreader: Ben Reynolds
Music typesetter: David Budmen
Indexer: Marilyn Bliss
Composition by Matrix Publishing Services, Inc.
Manufacturing by Courier, Westford
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
DeVeaux, Scott Knowles.
Jazz / Scott DeVeaux ; Gary Giddins. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-393-97880-3 (pbk.)
1. Jazz—History and criticism. I. Giddins, Gary. II. Title.
ML3508.D47 2009
781.65—dc22 2008046717
ISBN 978-0-393-
11460-7
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
www.wwnorton.com
W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street, London W1T 3QT
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
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To the women in my family: my grown-up daughters Amelia
and Flora Thomson-DeVeaux; my newborn twins, Lena and
Celia; and most of all, my wife, Nancy Hurrelbrinck.
—Scott DeVeaux
To Deborah Halper and Lea Giddins.
—Gary Giddins
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CONTENTS
Introduction xiii
PART I
Musical Orientation 2
..............................................
CHAPTER 1 Musical Elements and Instruments 7
..............
Empathy, Individuality, and Timbre 7 ■ Th e Ensemble 9 ■ Rhythm,
Meter, and Swing 17 ■ Melody, Scales, and Modes 21 ■ Licks, Motives,
and Riff s 24 ■ Harmony 25 ■ Texture 27
■ Ghana fi eld recording, Akuapim performance 19
CHAPTER 2 Jazz Form and Improvisation 31
.....................
Form 31 ■ Blues Form 32 ■ Th irty-Two-Bar Pop Song Form: A A B A
37 ■ Improvisation 41 ■ In performance 44
■ Bessie Smith, “Reckless Blues” 32
■ Louis Armstrong, “West End Blues” 33
■ Pete Johnson and Big Joe Turner, “It’s All Right, Baby” 34
■ Charlie Parker, “Now’s the Time” 36
■ Billie Holiday, “A Sailboat in the Moonlight” 38
■ Miles Davis, “So What” 40
PART II
EARLY JAZZ (1900–1930) 48
.................................
CHAPTER 3 The Roots of Jazz 53
....................................
Jazz and Ethnicity 54 ■ Folk Traditions 55 ■ Blues 58 ■ Bessie
Smith 62 ■ Eyewitness to History (W. C. Handy) 63 ■ Popular
vi
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CONTENTS ■ vii
Music 65 ■ Minstrelsy 65 ■ Dance Music 66
■ Th e Castles and James Reese Europe 67 ■ Art Music 68 ■ Brass
Bands 69 ■ Ragtime 72 ■ Ragtime Pieces and Scott Joplin 73
■ Th e Path to Jazz: Wilbur Sweatman 74 ■ Additional Listening 77
■ Georgia Sea Island Singers, “Th e Buzzard Lope” 56
■ Mississippi Fred McDowell, “Soon One Morning” 59
■ Bessie Smith, “Reckless Blues” 63
■ John Philip Sousa, “Th e Stars and Stripes Forever” 70
■ Wilbur Sweatman, “Down Home Rag” 75
CHAPTER 4 New Orleans 79
..........................................
Early New Orleans 80 ■ A Meeting of Musical Styles 82 ■ Manuel
Perez 83 ■ Buddy Bolden and the Birth of Jazz 83 ■ New Orleans
Style 86 ■ Storyville 87 ■ Th e Great Migration 88 ■ Freddie
Keppard 89 ■ Original Dixieland Jazz Band 90 ■ Jelly Roll
Morton 93 ■ King Oliver 99 ■ Gennett Records 100 ■ Sidney
Bechet 104 ■ Additional Listening 109
■ Original Dixieland Jazz Band, “Dixie Jass Band One-Step” 91
■ Jelly Roll Morton, “Dead Man Blues” 94
■ Jelly Roll Morton, “Doctor Jazz” 97
■ King Oliver, “Snake Rag” 102
■ Red Onion Jazz Babies / Sidney Bechet, “Cake Walking Babies (from
Home)” 106
CHAPTER 5 New York in the 1920s 111
..........................
Arabian Nights 111 ■ 1920s Transformations 112 ■ Dance
Bands 114 ■ Art Hickman 114 ■ Paul Whiteman: A Short-Lived
Monarchy 114 ■ Fletcher Henderson 120 ■ Don Redman 121
■ Th e Alley and the Stage 124 ■ Th e Harlem Renaissance 127
■ Stride 128 ■ James P. Johnson 129 ■ Th e Player Piano 130 ■ Duke
Ellington Begins 132 ■ Additional Listening 137
■ Paul Whiteman, “Changes” 117
■ Fletcher Henderson, “Copenhagen” 122
■ James P. Johnson, “You’ve Got to Be Modernistic” 130
■ Duke Ellington, “Black and Tan Fantasy” 135
CHAPTER 6 Louis Armstrong and the
First Great Soloists 139
................................................
Louis Armstrong 139 ■ Enter Earl Hines 147 ■ Th e Armstrong Impact:
A Generation of Soloists 150 ■ Bix Beiderbecke 150 ■ Coleman
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viii ■ CONTENTS
Hawkins 154 ■ Satchmo’s World 157 ■ Additional Listening 160
■ Armstrong Chronology 161
■ Louis Armstrong, “Hotter Th an Th at” 145
■ Louis Armstrong / Earl Hines, “Weather Bird” 148
■ Bix Beiderbecke / Frank Trumbauer, “Singin’ the Blues” 152
■ Mound City Blue Blowers (Coleman Hawkins), “One Hour” 155
Part II Summary: Precursors to Jazz, New Orleans Style, Big Bands Before
1930, Louis Armstrong 162
PART III
THE SWING ERA 164
..............................................
CHAPTER 7 Swing Bands 169
........................................
Th e Depression 169 ■ World War II 170 ■ Swing and Race 171
■ Swing and Economics 171 ■ Voices (Roy Eldridge) 171
■ Swing and Dance 172 ■ Arranging / Fletcher Henderson 174
■ Breakthrough 177 ■ Benny Goodman 177 ■ John Hammond
and Other Jazz Enthusiasts 181 ■ Major Swing Bands 183 ■ Artie
Shaw 183 ■ Jimmie Lunceford 186 ■ Glenn Miller 190 ■ Cab
Calloway 191 ■ Additional Listening 193
■ Fletcher Henderson, “Blue Lou” 175
■ Benny Goodman, “Dinah” 180
■ Artie Shaw, “Star Dust” 184
■ Jimmie Lunceford, “’Tain’t What You Do (It’s the Way Th at You
Do It)” 188
CHAPTER 8 Count Basie and Duke Ellington 195
..............
Th e Southwest 195 ■ From the Margins to the Center: Boogie-
Woogie 196 ■ Pete Johnson and Big Joe Turner 196 ■ Territory
Bands 200 ■ Andy Kirk and Mary Lou Williams 200 ■ Women
in Jazz 203 ■ Count Basie 204 ■ Head Arrangements and Jam
Sessions 205 ■ Kansas City 206 ■ Duke Ellington 211 ■ Johnny
Hodges and the Trombones 215 ■ Billy Strayhorn 220 ■ Ellington
Chronology 224 ■ Additional Listening 225
■ Pete Johnson / Big Joe Turner, “It’s All Right, Baby” 198
■ Andy Kirk / Mary Lou Williams, “Walkin’ and Swingin’” 201
■ Count Basie, “One O’Clock Jump” 206
■ Duke Ellington, “Mood Indigo” 214
■ Duke Ellington, “Conga Brava” 217
■ Duke Ellington, “Blood Count” 221
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